For those who thrive on facts and statistics, we shared


with the group many eye-opening ones, including one from a study in the U.K. that showed that in 1919, the average roam- ing range of an eight-year-old was six miles. In 1950, it was one mile. In 1979, it was half a mile, and today, it is less than 300 yards. We asked educators to think about their own chil- dren. Did they let them wander more than 300 yards or out of their sight line? Some participants mentioned that it wasn’t as safe as it used to be years ago. But is this true? Has crime increased or has the constant bombardment of negative sto- ries on the news and social media caused us to believe this? As the educators were contemplating the differences


between their childhoods and those of their students or own children, we asked each of them to recall their favourite childhood memory. What we saw next was exciting. Educa- tors who had been sitting quietly during the session came out of their shells. Faces changed. Smiles appeared, and hands of those who wanted to share shot up readily. We hadn’t speci- fied the outdoors, but almost 100% of the favourite memories that were shared did occur there. Interestingly, not one of our participants shared a favourite memory of an organized sport or club. Not one shared that they were closely supervised by


an adult in their favourite memory. Collectively, the stories we heard were fascinating and, for the most part, included a common thread: the feelings of independence and discovery. This led us to asking participants if their own children would have the same types of memories of being outside and explor- ing nature. Did their children spend any unstructured time playing outside? Was there ever a time when they were not closely supervised by an adult? We could see attitudes start- ing to change as well as the realization that today’s genera- tion is missing out on a lot of these memory-making adven- tures. (There is a great video that we shared from Nature Valley that really hits home: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=1XDVDyDJ3s0&t=2s.) At this point, the teams of two were each introduced to


another team from a nearby school. (We had matched the teams by grade and geographic location prior to the session.) Teams were given the chance to sit down and start to plan. Each team was to think about a question that they wanted to explore in terms of their teaching style and opportunities given to their students. Once the questions had been created, it was time to plan how the teams would test their theories to see if positive change in their students had occurred. One team would go first and the other team would visit the school to provide their observations and advice on how things had gone and how to move forward. An example of an inquiry question was,


“If we create a routine and spend the begin- ning of the day outside, will students be better able to focus and self-regulate throughout the rest of the day?” One of our primary teams tested this theory and began by keeping their students outside first thing in the morning by doing their attendance and land acknowledge- ment there. O Canada and announcements occurred during first break, so students were back inside for that. Backpacks were lined up against the school building and the stu- dents were given opportunities to explore and come back as a class to discuss what they had observed. What did they hear when they were quiet outside? What did they see when they had time to really look at their surroundings? What smells did they experience? Students reported hearing birds for the first time. They noticed things such as squirrel nests and dif- ferent animal/insect habitats in their school- yard or close by. Sometimes, they were given specific directives; other times, they were just invited to be mindful. By the time the visiting team had come for


the observation day, the students had begun to get familiar with the routine and self-regu- late. There seemed to be a calm amongst the group, and the students whom the educators had originally been nervous about taking outside in a more unstructured setting were pleasantly surprised. Those students seemed to thrive in the outdoors!


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